


i was a mess just like the pool

by fireandfolds



Series: there's some beauty here yet [16]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Asexual Kara Danvers, Blood and Injury, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kara Danvers Needs a Hug, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Lena Luthor-centric, Lesbian Lena Luthor, Light Angst, Like Adults, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers, POV Lena Luthor, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Protective Alex Danvers, Queerplatonic Relationships, SuperCorp, Supercorptober, Supercorptober 2020, discussion about the reveal, i'm tired of s5 it's SHIT i tell you, luvers, shhhhh, yes it's december
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27831856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireandfolds/pseuds/fireandfolds
Summary: a tragedy, a shower, and a realisation.(or: kara gets hurt, lena learns to forgive, and alex is exasperated.)supercorptober 2020 prompt sixteen: water.title from “monsoon” by hippo campus.
Relationships: Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: there's some beauty here yet [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952920
Comments: 8
Kudos: 171





	i was a mess just like the pool

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LavenderMandarin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavenderMandarin/gifts).



> this one goes out to my friend [LavenderMandarin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavenderMandarin), who writes amazing kara-centric fics, especially angst. she did supercorptober, too, which you should 100% [check out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26753224).
> 
> light tw for blood and injuries—nothing too graphic, just kara getting hurt. as she does.

———

Lena can hear the _tap_ of boots on concrete behind her; she smiles and pours out another glass of water from her minibar. 

She walks toward the balcony to greet her best friend, but as she raises her head, her smile and the glasses in her hands drop. 

“Kara!”

Blood and water diffuse on the white tile as Lena dashes to her best friend’s side. Damn her preoccupied state; she didn’t even hear Kara hitting the floor. 

The blonde is unresponsive, and Lena wishes for nothing more than to see her blue eyes right now. But at least she has a pulse—a weak one, but it’s there.

“Jess!” The CEO calls for her loyal secretary, who comes in quickly. God, she has to give that woman a raise.

“Yes, Ms. Luth—oh dear.” The quick-witted woman spins on her heel, opening the secret compartment of the office and retrieving the medkit.

“Hope, initiate protocol 2, and please send Alex Danvers a message: ‘SOS, Supergirl bleeding in office, under lockdown.’” 

“Right away, Ms. Luthor.”

Concrete panels slide down to seal all the exits as Jess rushes back to Kara’s side with the bag.

With Lena’s (actual) medical training and Jess’ “medical training” _(I’ve seen more than 200 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy!),_ the women manage to stop the bleeding; but there is no telling how much internal damage exists under the bandages.

Lena sits heavily on the chair behind her desk as she stares at her hands. Her hands, which are covered with Kara’s blood. Kara, her best friend. Who’s currently bleeding out on her office floor. She has her best friend’s blood on her hands. 

_Oh, her therapist is going to have a field day over this week._

Before her thoughts can spiral even worse, there is a ping from Jess’ tablet. 

“Ms. Luthor, Alex Danvers is outside the door. Retracting protocol 2.”

The CEO nods numbly, still staring at the cracks in her hands. The red has seeped under her fingernails, too. From her peripheral, she can see the older Danvers sister, clad in black body armour, and J’onn rushing into the office. 

“Lena! Are you okay?”

“Oh, it’s not my blood, help her please.” She looks up to find Alex crouched in front of her, reaching for her hands. The older woman is disregarding her words.

As J’onn picks up the blonde, he turns to the two women. “I’ll be right back.” He’s gone before Lena can even blink. 

Alex helps her up from the office chair as the Martian returns. 

“Ms. Luthor, I’ve got L-Corp covered. You just worry about Kara, okay?” Lena nods numbly at Jess. Definitely due for another raise.

He takes them in his arms, and Lena can hear the rumble of his chest as he speaks. “Hang on tight!”

They’re at the Supercrew HQ in less than a second, and the moment her heels touch solid ground she’s running for the medbay. She finds Kara in a hospital bed, still battered and bruised. 

“Oh, Kar…” Lena grabs a cold, limp hand as her eyes move over her best friend’s broken body. She’s still holding it when Alex enters the room. 

“Alex. Could I have a bowl of water, please? And some rags.”

“Yeah. What for?”

She looks back at Kara, dirty blonde hair a stark contrast from the white pillow. “She needs to be clean.”

———

Soon enough, a basin of water and a stack of rags are delivered to the room by Alex. Lena quietly thanks her, dipping the warm cloth into cool water and moving to stand next to her unconscious best friend. The operative joins her soon after, wringing out a rag so forcefully Lena can hear threads ripping.

She looks up and sees tension at the edge of brown eyes. They both know the weight pressing on the older Danvers’ shoulders, but neither mentions it in favour of gently scrubbing away the dirt and blood on Kara.

“You know, she never shuts up about you.” Alex’s tone is dry, but there's an edge of soft present too. 

Lena looks up with surprise. What was there to talk about? She tells the other woman this, who snorts in reply. 

“Fuck me if I know, I usually tune it out. But she’s really glad you forgave her and made up and all.”

“Well, she did fuck up, but who hasn’t?” She looks down at the blonde’s face again, taking in all the details; the nick by her eyebrow, the scar on the underside of her chin. “And she wasn’t entirely in the wrong, I was also at fault for some of it—”

“Both of you idiots were the problem.” Alex raises a brow.

“I’ll agree with you there. And I know her, so despite the fact that she has a huge god complex and was a hypocrite, insulted me and forced me to build my walls up again, live out my greatest nightmare...I wanted what we had again. And I didn’t stop to think about why.”

Red blooms in the basin and pebbles sink to the bottom as Lena dips the rag and twists it. Her heart twists the same way, as she looks down at her best friend. Now that the blood is cleared, the injuries to Kara’s face are more apparent. The beginnings of a black eye, a split lip, and a cut high on her left cheekbone. 

Under the bright lamps, Kara looks sallow but peaceful. If she tries hard enough, Lena can pretend they’re in her apartment, drifting off to sleep at hours no one should be awake.

“I haven’t forgiven her yet—she hurt me, more than anyone’s hurt me. But I don’t expect to be forgiven yet either.”

“Oh, she’s forgiven you.”

“I—what? Why?”

The older sibling snorts, as she double taps the base of Kara’s neck. The suit silently unzips, and Alex swiftly peels it away, stripping the blonde down to her sports bra and boxer briefs, as if she’s done it before.

Lena supposes she has. Too many times, probably. 

“It’s in her nature to forgive easily. And she knows she fucked up, and that you were hurt. I mean, it took a few therapy sessions to get it into her head, but she gets it.” She slowly peels the wrappings away from skin. “That being said, if you _ever_ , and I mean _ever_ hurt her again as you did, you’ll have me to answer to.”

Lena nods. “Kara was misguided, and as I said, I was also at fault. I didn’t try to understand how she saw it, and I also really hurt her. I was blinded by anger, pain, pride, and fear.”

The other woman sighs through her nose. “For the record, I’m sorry for using Kara to implant a virus in your programming.”

“No, don’t be. You were doing your job.”

“Oh, good. I wasn’t actually sorry. I’d do it again if I could.” Alex pulls a new roll of gauze from her bag, a smirk pulling at the edge of her lips. 

Lena rolls her eyes. _It’s almost like before. Could it be like that again?_

They lapse into silence, cleaning the rest of her body and tending to her wounds. Alex wraps the gash in Kara’s midsection, and Lena’s nose stings at the scent of antiseptic. 

“I’ll be right back.” Alex takes the basin and soiled rags, leaving Lena staring at her resting best friend. She gently picks up Kara’s bruised right hand, bringing it to her lips. She tastes salt as she makes contact, and pulls back to find the hand wet. 

She’s crying. 

“Damn it, Kara, I’m still mad at you. You don’t get to die, not while I’m still mad at you.” Lena chokes on her words, tripping like Kara did when they first met. She wants to see awkward, bumbling, endearing Kara again. She wants to feel her hugs again. She wants movie nights and brunch and tracking down clues. 

_I’m ready to forgive her._

Footsteps behind her prompt her to hastily scrub the tears away with her sleeve. Alex is back, with a DEO-issue shirt and sweatpants. She hands the pants to Lena and pulls the shirt over Kara’s head. 

“This is why she didn’t want to tell you.”

“What?”

“One of the reasons why she didn’t want to tell you she was Supergirl is because she didn’t want you to know about this,” Alex gestures to Kara, the machines. “She wanted to save you the heartache whenever she gets hurt, which is often. I’m not saying it was right to keep it from you, but she only ever wanted to protect you. It was stupid, but she said you’ve been in pain before, and something about watching the people you love getting hurt or whatever.”

Lena shakes her head. “That was dumb.”

“That’s my sister for you.” Alex rounds the bed, grabbing Lena’s shoulders. “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”

———

“Does Sam know you’re watching another woman undress right now?” They’re in the locker room now, and Alex is indeed leaning against the wall facing her.

The other woman snorted again, rolling her eyes at the terrible line. “Have a little faith in my relationship with my wife and your best friend, thank you very much.”

At that moment, the CFO walks in with a folded stack of new clothes; a sweater, sweatpants, and a shirt. They’re Kara’s, but the tall brunette probably didn’t know that when she looked through Lena’s walk-in. 

“Ah, speak of the devil.” Alex cranes her neck up for a kiss from Sam, before pushing Lena towards the showers. “Go shower! Kara should be up by the time you’re finished.”

She slowly cleans herself, paying special attention to her hands. She wants the blood out of her every pore, every follicle. She watches red swirl down the drain. 

_Kara might be a god, but she still bleeds red._

She gets out really quick, after that.

As she exits the room, fully dressed and towel drying her hair, she hears laughter from the medbay. She _runs_ to find Kara sitting up, smiling with Alex and Sam at her side. 

“Oh my god, you’re awake!” The latter half of Lena’s speech is muffled by how hard she’s pressed her face into Kara’s chest. Lillian would be affronted by how ungraciously she’s clambered onto the hospital bed, but frankly, she doesn’t care.

She hears her favourite sound—Kara’s bright laughter, unmuddled and warm. The blonde’s arms tighten around her with a _hello again,_ and Lena finally lets her jaw and shoulder relax.

She feels wetness on her cheeks again, but it’s okay. Kara’s awake and alive. 

———

The next day, on Kara’s doorstep, she finally says the words.

“I forgive you. And I’m sorry. For everything.”

This time, it’s Kara’s face that’s wet.

———  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hey, thanks for reading—let me know what you think in the comments below.
> 
> find me elsewhere, on [my carrd](https://fireandfolds.carrd.co/), and check out my [glasses fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23181505/chapters/55488211).
> 
> stream hippo campus & stan sandra oh,
> 
> kier x


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